Pressure
by fiesa
Summary: There are days that are unbearable. Expectations and prejudices are heavy pressure to shoulder for young people. But together... Team Seven OneShot.


**Pressure**

_Merry Christmas! Part II_

_Summary: There are days that are unbearable. Expectations and prejudices are heavy pressure to shoulder for young people. Team Seven OneShot._

_Warning: -_

_Set: Story-unrelated, future-fic_

_Disclaimer: Standards apply.  
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„That's impossible! Kiri-Gakure will never consent..."

"I'm sure I speak for everyone here if I say…"

"The Raikage won't be happy if…"

"What has the Kazekage said to this newest one of Konoha's insanities?"

"Hokage-Sama, we thought we had consented on…"

~*V*~

Naruto knows there's more to being the Hokage than just being a role model, a keeper of peace and happiness.

He knows these other part – the papers and the meetings and the discussions and the fights, veiled threats and unveiled criticism – are the actually dangerous and exhausting things every head of the village has to face. Maybe, he thinks while he listens to the voices which blur together, maybe this is the reason why no Hokage ever stayed in his position for a truly long time. Maybe the war with diplomats, elders, councilmen, messengers and foreign heads of villages – not to mention the lords of the five big countries – is what kills every Hokage in the end.

"Silence, please."

His words cut through the static buzzing of voices like a whip through air. He doesn't even have to raise his voice until the room falls into a breath-holding silence. Suddenly, every face, every pair of eyes, are turned to him. Naruto feels the weight of their hopes, their fears, their worries and their expectations on his shoulders. It is a crushing weight.

"We're not getting anywhere. Please, Ladies and Gentlemen, try to remember why we're here."

He's twenty-five, but he feels like fifty. His head hurts. His eyes are red and burn from the lack of sleep. Still, he lets his gaze linger on every member of his council for a few seconds. There is no ounce of defeat or exasperation in his eyes. He might be tired, but he's still the Hokage and his will alone is what drives them forward. The council regains its composure.

"It doesn't look like we'll be able to find a solution to this problem, even if we discuss another week," an old man states. Immediately, Naruto focuses his concentration on him.

"We don't have another week, Tono-San, and you and I and everyone else here know this. We're facing a crisis, and if we don't react properly in the next three days, we'll have to face consequences even graver than when the Alliance stood up to Akatsuki. We can't spend our time on internal politics now. We have to solve a problem – or at least find a compromise – and only then we will be able to sleep undisturbed. I already presented my solution. Now I ask for the Council's consent."

The Council stares at him. For once, they're of the same opinion: However much the orders of the Hokage weight for the shinobi of Hidden Leaf, he can't influence _the Council._ He's their puppet, nothing else, and -

Naruto stares back, his blue eyes cold. He has no intention of giving up.

* * *

The child is seven years old.

It's a girl and she's looking at Sakura with the most hopeful eyes the young woman has ever seen. These eyes don't seem to belong to an eight-year-old girl. They are too old, too wise. In the white hospital bed, her frail body is almost lost it's so small.

"You have to find out what's wrong with her!"

The mother pleads. The father threatens. The doctor tries to calm them, to tell them there have to be patient. They have come all the way from the Wave country. They have been in many villages and many doctors but still, nobody can tell what's wrong with their child. The little girl in the big hospital bed shrinks even more when her mother starts crying and her father starts shouting. _You have to do something, it's your damn job, are you a doctor or not?_ _Our child is sick!_

Sakura can see the girl is dying and it breaks her heart.

~*V*~

"What's your name?" She asks and smiles gently, trying to drown out the agitated voices. The girl's voice is tiny.

"Alice."

"Hey, Alice. I'm Sakura. How do you feel?"

"I feel sick. But the doctor said that's normal."

"Yeah, that's the medicine we give you. It's supposed to help you, but it makes you feel sick almost all the time."

"Are there other children here, too?"

"There are some. You'll meet them soon, I'm sure."

The girl smiles. "That's great! In the last hospital there were only…" Her voice drops to a whisper. "You know… _old_ people. They were nice, but no one wanted to play with me…"

Her voice trails off. Her hands grip the railing of the bed, her eyes look at something far away.

"Alice?" Sakura asks concerned. The doctor has left. The parents rush to their child's bedside. Alice's body starts convulsing.

"Oh my God!" Her mother screams. "Do something! Help! Help!" Sakura pushes her away and hits the button at the bedside table.

"Emergency in room 103!" She screams and rushes back to the child. Her hands start working all on their own while her head starts analyzing: Seizures, increased heart-rate, unconsciousness. She shouts at a nurse who rushes to her side: "Take away the parents!" The screaming and crying parents are ushered away. Another doctor appears by her side. They work together. They're not good enough.

"What do you mean, she won't wake up?" Her mother asks, her voice a sob. Sakura is the one to bring the bad news, as she has been the one present when the child was gripped by seizures.

"She's in a coma," she tries to explain to parents who don't want to understand. "She somehow… slipped away. We couldn't bring her back."

"She has to wake up!" Her father shouts.

"When will she wake up?" Her mother sobs.

"We can't know," Sakura explains miserably. "It happens, sometimes. Patients just… fall asleep. Sometimes they wake up after a few days, sometimes after a few months…"

_Sometimes they never wake up again._

She tries to suppress the thought. She can't bear the fact that the little girl will never wake up again, never play with other children, never grow up…

Her shoulders slump.

"I'm sorry. We'll do our best."

* * *

She walks away, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"What do you see?"

"Nothing. He's not there."

Sasuke Uchiha continues his duty: He watches the hideout his prey has chosen this time. It's the fifth night he and his team of ANBU are trying to eliminate a certain criminal, and it's the fifth night they probably will fail because the scum has proven to be not only quick but really good at using doubles. _No._ Sasuke pushes away the mere idea of failure. He won't fail. _He won't fail. _Failure is no option. He has sworn loyalty to the Hokage and the Hokage has given him a mission. He will finish the mission and return.

"He won't come," the second one of his team members mumbles. He's wearing a hawk mask. "He won't come. He didn't come last night, or the night before, or the night before…"

"Someone has told him we're after him," the third team member with a bear mask says quietly. "He's not an idiot. He'll have his sources which, undoubtedly, have told him to run."

Sasuke clenches his teeth, glad for his own wolf mask that hides his frustration and turns around.

We've followed him this far," he says without emotion. "We've found his hideout. We've made sure he has no other place to go. He'll be here, sooner or later."

"He'd better make it sooner."

_Failure is not an option._ The words circle in his head. _Not an option. Not an option. Failure is not an option. Failure is…_

Carefully, he stands and looks at his teammates.

"I'll go for a stroll. You know the signal?"

Both nod and he leaves, intent not on making any sounds and creating any traces. When he returns, maybe twenty minutes later, he overhears them talking quietly.

"…Orochimaru."

He freezes. The name still has the power of rendering him speech- and motionless.

"But he came back. He's been loyal to Konoha for more than six years now."

"Who knows what plans the snake made for him? Maybe…"

Feeling sick, Sasuke turns on his heel and heads back into the forest. He's almost back under the shadows of the trees when he hears the noise. Immediately, he jumps onto the next tree, as taught as a wire. Listening for sounds, waiting for noises. He tries to blend in with the foliage. Underneath, his prey passes him, followed by two missing-nin; oblivious of his presence but watchful. His fellow ANBU – _damn they should know better that to get distracted like that! What are they ANBU for, for heaven's sake – don't _know what has hit them. Hawk goes down in a rustling of leaves and breaking branches and hits the ground. Bear puts up a fight. Sasuke quickly makes his way towards the source of the noise and hears Bear's painful grunt when he, too, goes down.

Sasuke remains still as stone and sure enough, his prey signals and a dozen of his minions come into view. He curses softly under his breath. He is a good fighter, even more, he is brilliant, but even he cannot deal with fifteen shinobi at the same time.

"Throw them into the hut and set it on fire," his prey instructs; a hint of satisfaction in his voice. Sasuke watches as the others obey his orders without questioning, the same expression of excitement on their faces. He knows what they want: They want to force him into the open, want to make him move first in order to save his teammates. They want to manipulate him and it won't work. Because he is Sasuke Uchiha and he knows where his loyalties lie: if he has to sacrifice his teammates in order to pursue his true mission…

_No._

He can see two faces, two pairs of eyes in his mind, and he knows he can't. Maybe he could have done it six years ago. Maybe the Sasuke could have done it then, but the one he is now can't. He has been formed by the fire and the hate his brother brought on his family, by the rivalry and absolute loyalty Naruto has shown him and by the unconditional love Sakura gave him. He sighs imperceptibly and readies himself for his entrance.

* * *

They won't get him that easily.

They return home in short distance from each other.

Sakura disables the trap Naruto set up in the morning and unlocks the window. She puts down her bag on the kitchen table and walks into the living-room. She's not hungry – if one of the others is, they can order take-out. She doesn't feel like cooking today anyway. There's no one at home, she knows. She can feel it. She lets herself fall onto the sofa and closes her eyes.

Next is Sasuke. He kicks off his shoes and shrugs out of his uniform cloak – it's dirty and torn and somehow looks burned – and places his weapon pouch and gear next to the bag of medical supplies on the kitchen table. He enters the living room and sees the strands of pink hair fall over the side arms of the sofa. Without a word, he sinks down next to Sakura and stretches himself out. She leans into him gladly. The sofa is just big enough for two.

Naruto returns unusually quiet. He doesn't even shout out a loud greeting when he closes the door behind him. The kitchen is empty, but the table is a mess of bags and pouches he immediately recognizes. He dumps some paperwork on the table and continues into the living-room. Seeing the sofa is already occupied, he sinks to the floor and props himself up against it.

They sit there in silence.

Finally, Sakura opens her eyes and smiles at the sight of Naruto sprawled on the floor. Then she brushes away a few stands of her hair and sighs quietly.

"I had to tell parents their daughter wouldn't wake up from her coma."

"I had to save my team from a burning house while a dozen missing-nin tried to kill me."

"I had to face the entire Council for nine hours and they still don't like me. Doesn't look like we'll be ready to fight Kumo when they decide to attack."

Silence falls over them while they take in the news. After a while, Sakura looks at Naruto.

"You want to come up?"

He grins back.

"You come down."

Chuckling, she unwinds from Sasuke's embrace and slides to the floor. Sasuke grunts unwillingly.

"I'm not getting up."

Naruto grabs his dangling legs and pulls them, quick and hard. With a surprised yelp, Sasuke slides to the carpet as well. Naruto laughs. Sakura smiles. Sasuke mumbles irritated.

Lying between the two of them, Sakura searches for Sasuke's hand first, then for Naruto's. They lay there, on the carpet, all three of them next to each other. Today is not a day for talking.

Eventually, they fall asleep, still holding hands like children in a fairy-tale.

Pressure won't crush them as long as they are together._  
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End file.
